Oleksandra Dubovytska is a native resident of Kyiv, who lived in a huge city before the full-scale invasion. However, February 2022 changed everything: she moved to a small town in Pokuttia(an ethnographical area in the western part of Ukraine – ed.) to get a quality education for her daughter. Now the woman is working on a social enterprise — the Pokuttya shop selling local artisans‘ handicrafts, popularizing Ukrainian culture, and embroidering and reproducing the “volove oko’’ pattern of an old Pokuttya embroidered shirt.
The road to Horodenka
Oleksandra was born and raised in Kyiv and lived there for 36 years of her life until the full-scale Russian invasion wiped out everything.
‘My parents are from Kyiv, so I lived all my life in a flat near the metro station, in an area with a lot of military facilities and a factory – places that were important for the Russians to capture. In February 2022, it was especially dangerous there due to the shelling. I’ve lost count of how many missiles hit the area, and I’m still surprised that my house survived. At first, when the shelling started, we packed our ‘emergency bags’ and went to the underground for a few hours, but returned home for the night. Then it got worse and we were forced to take our sleeping bags and spend the night in the tube. At that time, enemy paratroopers descended on the area, we could no longer stay in the metro, so we decided to go to my sister’s house, which is a private house.’
For two weeks, Oleksandra recalls, they lived at her sister’s house, then moved to her friend’s house in Khmelnytskyi region: ‘All the time we were away from home, my then seven-year-old daughter Mariia was stressed: she was worried at her relatives’ house because she was constantly hearing about war victims and shelling on TV. Things were better in the Khmelnytskyi region, but my daughter still needed activities and communication with her peers. I felt it was essential to continue her education at school.”
When the full-scale invasion began, Mariia was in first grade in Kyiv. There she studied at a school, not a regular school, but a Waldorf school (a method of education founded by Rudolf Steiner. The main goal is to grow a holistic personality with equally developed intellect, morality and will – Ed.)
‘My husband and I have been looking for an alternative education system because our child is the only one, and we want the best for her. Since we had already experienced a sad situation at an educational place, as we had to transfer Mariia from a kindergarten because of the teacher’s cruel treatment, we were very careful when choosing a school. Of course, there are many approaches to pedagogy, such as the NUS (New Ukrainian School – Ed.), the Montessori method (a system of education where the child’s individuality and development of his or her talents are considered the most important – Ed.) or private schools with their own methods. However, my friend, whose children had already attended a school with Waldorf pedagogy, shared her experience, and my husband and I were very impressed. The most significant thing is that the treatment of children there is very friendly, there is no aggression, manipulation, or coercion. Also, these schools do not put too much intellectual pressure on children: first-graders do not have to sit for 40 minutes after kindergarten. Such a sudden change can be stressful for 6-7-year-olds. In Waldorf schools, they learn while having fun’
Attending school in Kyiv was impossible because of the active warfare. Over time, Oleksandra realized that the full-scale war would not end quickly, and she needed to settle down wherever there would be a school for her daughter, who was in urgent need of studies. She began to research more, and it turned out that most schools with the Waldorf system of pedagogy were located in the central or eastern regions of Ukraine. In the west, where it was safer, there were only two schools — in Lutsk and Horodenka. The first was just closing due to the full-scale invasion, and the second was just starting its activities. Oleksandra managed to find the contact details of a teacher at the Horodenka school and talked to him. The man then said: “Come and stay”. That’s when she decided to move to the small town for the love of her daughter. ‘I didn’t know where I would live, what I would do for a living — it was an absolute dark unknown, but the most important thing for me was that my child would have a good school.
The benefits of living in a small town
At that time, people from different cities of Ukraine were discovering the school in Horodenka and relocating to the town. So at first, Oleksandra did not feel lonely. ‘When the Waldorf school found out about the number of people who wanted to attend their school, they agreed with the owner of a large two-floor football base near the stadium in Horodenka. They set up a temporary shelter there. ‘We were treated very kindly: some people met us, others came up just to talk. It felt as if a community was forming around the school — there were parents whose children attended the school; and teachers who had to evacuate from more dangerous regions. The conditions were like in a dormitory: a shared sleeping space with curtains, one toilet and a kitchen. My daughter and I lived there for six months.’
Oleksandra shares that at first, it was important for her to just stay somewhere while Kyiv was not safe because of the shelling. However, after a few months, in the summer, she realized that it was still not safe to go back, so she decided to settle her family in this friendly town.
For two years now, the mother and daughter have been living in rented accommodation in the centre of Horodenka. Oleksandra says that she has thought about moving to a smaller town before: ‘When Marichka was born, I was thinking about leaving Kyiv. Firstly, I wanted to live closer to nature. Secondly, the language issue was very triggering for me, I would like my child to grow up in a Ukrainian-speaking environment. There was a time in Kyiv when I couldn’t find a dance class where the teacher spoke Ukrainian to my daughter. I also remember having to transfer Marichka to another kindergarten because she learnt Russian from other children. I also had to travel 40 minutes every morning to take my child to kindergarten, and I thought that in a small town, these distances would be shorter. Here, 40 minutes to walk — and I’ve walked around the whole city (laughs).”
Oleksandra says that now she likes Horodenka so much that she is thinking about staying here:
‘I’ve already “enjoyed” the benefits of living in a metropolis, so I’m not looking back. A big discovery for me was how many young, energetic, intelligent people live here and don’t want to move. There is a stereotype that everyone wants to move from a smaller city to a bigger one, but this is not the case here. People are happy to live in Horodenka, they want to work and develop the town. I found my people and my favourite coffee shop here.’
She says that at first, she was worried that she would miss the cultural life, but she doesn’t have any worries about it, because she either attends events in Horodenka or goes to neighbouring Ivano-Frankivsk, Kolomyia or Lviv: ‘I remember once I did wanted to participate in a lecture by Ostap Ukrainets (writer, translator, promoter of the Ukrainian language and culture – Ed. The event was in Lviv, and I didn’t have time to return on the same day, so I arranged for half the residents of Horodenka to stay with my child. I had such an irresistible desire for cultural life at the time (laughs)).
The only thing that needs to be added is a cinema. I love watching films on the big screen, not at home on my laptop. Now I want to watch a film about Yaremchuk (the documentary Yaremchuk: A World of Incomparable Beauty about the popular Ukrainian singer in the 90s – Ed.), and it’s a whole quest for me.’
Shop ‘Pokuttia’
Oleksandra says that the idea of an online shop selling goods made by local Pokuttya craftsmen was not hers. From the very beginning, she was an employee: ‘In fact, the idea belongs to the Pokutska Kraina community, which aims to develop the life of the local community, meaning not only educational aspects but also social and economic components. To make Horodenka not only a close-knit community where everyone helps each other but also economically viable. They came up with the idea of creating an online store where they would sell local craftsmen’s products and use the profits to develop the community.
They were looking for someone to run social media, and as I was doing the same for the Waldorf School in Horodenka at the time, they invited me. My husband is a professional photographer, he created the visual content, and I was responsible for managing the page.’
However, after a year of work, they decided that the online store project was unprofitable: the costs of advertising, creating quality content, and salaries exceeded their earnings, so it was better to suspend it. Oleksandra asked ‘give’ the shop to her, saying that she had already invested so much effort in it that it was a pity to stop. So she and her husband became the owners of the Pokutia shop. The project has been run by the Dubovytsky family for a year now. He takes photos and video content when he has free time from his main job, and she organizes sales, packs and sends parcels, and communicates with customers and crafters.
Oleksandra says she does everything in the shop intuitively and with a creative approach. ‘I am not a businesswoman and entrepreneurship is new to me. It was hard for me to understand the paperwork and accounting, and I had to learn how to register as a sole trader on my own. Perhaps someone would like to visit our profile and see only photos of goods, but here we talk about Waldorf pedagogy, embroidery, and the life of an ‘’displaced person‘’ in Horodenka. But it has its own charm, and everyone will find their own. I have found many online friends thanks to the shop’s page. If I ran the page strictly according to the rules, it might have been more commercial, but I do what I feel. We have a shop with a face, a heart, and energy.’
Goods by Pokuttya artisans
One of the first products in the shop was pottery made using the Nericomi technique, a Japanese method of mixing different shades of clay.
‘Anton Mykytyuk is a co-founder of the Pokutska Ceramics family pottery production facility located in Horodenka. It was his idea to produce pottery using the Nericomi technique, and he was one of the first people we started working with. The tableware looks very cool, stylish, and unique because it is impossible to make two identical cups or two identical plates, but it is very difficult to produce,’ Oleksandra shares.
In the past, the Pokuttya shop also offered wooden toys made of spruce called ‘’pryhorschi‘’: ‘Most of them are animals: birds, dogs, cats, bears, etc., carved out of wood. They are not painted and do not have any coloured details, except for the pattern of the wood itself in a cut. Such toys are widespread in Waldorf pedagogy: since the animal figures have no defining details, they are good for developing the imagination. In fact, children don’t need a million details or colours, they just need a silhouette and a shape, and they will create the rest with their imagination. It’s like when we used to pick up a wooden stick as a child and imagine it was a sword (laughs). Psychologists also use such toys in their work with children. They are also very tactile, pleasant to the touch.’
In addition to Nerikomi dishes and spruce toys, there was also some jewellery made by Vira Mykytyuk, Anton’s wife. She made ceramic brooches and pendants. These three types of goods were the only ones at the beginning of the shop.
Later, when Oleksandra took over the management, new products began to appear — beaded jewellery, woollen toys, sylianky (neck beaded ornaments in the form of a ribbon — Ed.), cups, porcelain and ceramic pendants, and necklaces.
‘Some people had been making items for a long time and were considered full-fledged craftspeople, while others were beginners, like one of the teachers at the Waldorf School. One day I accidentally saw an advert for a ceramics workshop for children, so of course I attended with my daughter and met the ceramicist Halyna. I saw a plate in the shape of a kiwi, and it was beautiful. That’s how a new type of product appeared — ‘fruit ceramics’, dishes in the shape of fruit: pears, apples, etc. Another woman from the village of Chernyatyn was already a full-formed ceramics master when we met, and I gave her the idea of creating jewellery, so we came up with porcelain hearts for necklaces. Then there were toys made of wool. In total, we have about ten craftsmen with whom we work regularly.’
Values of the Pokutia shop
Oleksandra emphasizes that the Pokutia shop is not a commercial one; on the contrary, it uses the proceeds to fund various educational, psychological, and social projects.
‘From the very beginning, it was decided that we would use the net profit for community growth. I decided not to change this rule, and since the shop became mine, I have always supported various projects. For example, we send money to the Waldorf School in Horodenka. Once I found out that the kindergarten in Irpin was in a difficult situation, they were almost on the verge of closure, so I sent them all the profit for the month. I also donate 50 hryvnias from each ceramic pendant I sell in the form of a white dove and a porcelain heart to the “Ptakhy”(birds—ed) charity fund to buy tactical medicine. I recently calculated that over the year of its operation, the shop has transferred over ten thousand hryvnias to the fund.
However, most of our profits now go to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as my heart feels, and I think it is very important. Of course, the amount varies every month, because we have not yet reached a steady income, but I always try to financially support various projects. Our goal is not to make as much money as possible, but to help and strengthen those who need it.’
Another significant part of the online store is supporting local artisans, says Oleksandra: ‘I like it and will always do it — buying and selling handmade products from Pokuttya craftsmen, because they are unique, stylish, and beautiful. I always tell people that handmade products will never be cheap, because not only high-quality materials are invested, but also time, hard work and energy. We have such ‘true’ Pokuttya things, it’s not mass production.’
The shop’s customers are not only local but also Ukrainians living abroad, even foreigners. ‘I have sent parcels abroad several times — to Canada, Italy, Germany, and France. Foreigners are very interested in our spruce toys and ceramic dishes. I remember how I used to ‘ tremble at each box because we don’t use plastic in our packaging, only paper, and I was afraid that something would break on the way. Ukrainians living abroad buy jewellery and crockery. They then write me very touching comments saying that it is a part of their home. Once, a Ukrainian woman living in Italy ordered some sylianka and beaded jewellery. When the parcel arrived, she immediately wrote to me that she saw the contents and started crying, because she is a Hutsul by birth and saw something native, a connection with which she feels very strongly. I also feel very uplifted when I hear such feedback, I immediately feel empowered and want to do more and more. I am motivated by communication with the shop’s customers, their energy, and emotions.’
Embroidery as therapy
Oleksandra also promotes the Horodenka Pokutska shirt because she embroiders herself. Her works feature the almost lost ancient pattern of the ‘’volove oko‘’ (abbreviated as VOKA). ‘It all started unexpectedly,’ Oleksandra recalls, ‘I came to a meeting with Halyna Didych in Horodenka (a promoter of the Pokuttya shirt, a craftswoman, and the wife of the Heavenly Hundred Hero Serhiy — Ed.) She told me about different patterns and showed me her hand-embroidered shirts, about ten of them. Finally, I asked where I could learn to embroider. Halyna looked at me and said it was a good question and laughed.
Later, we talked, and she told me that she had long dreamed of creating a club of embroidery masters. That’s how our meetings in the city library began.’
Over time, Oleksandra began to visit the community regularly and even started embroidering her own shirt. ‘At first, I was sceptical, especially when Halyna said that anyone could embroider such a shirt. The first one we chose was a ‘rukavienka’ (a shirt with the main pattern on the sleeves — Ed.) In our club, there was such a healthy competition between the embroiderers and at the same time support — we met to share how much we had already managed to embroider, what we had difficulties with and shared our experiences. It was like a therapeutic circle of interest. Every time I came, I was praised and encouraged to embroider more. Even a research passion appeared.
Later, I finished my shirt — my first hand-embroidered shirt. Later on, I realized that even the ‘’volove oko‘’ pattern, which looked complicated at first, is not that complicated, because it contains only three embroidery techniques: cross stitch, staple stitch and chain.”
Later, Liudmyla Vonsul (a collector of old Pokuttya clothes, promoter of the Horodenka shirt, and a craftswoman – Ed.) asked Oleksandra to be a model for a lecture on the town’s Horodenka shirt. ‘That was the first time I was dressed in an authentic outfit for young women – a shirt, a spare, a patch, etc. And I felt that I liked it, that I felt at ease. I received so many compliments! People said that this outfit suited me so well as if I had been born in it. And when I first wore my own embroidered shirt and went to the fair of local artisans in Lviv, I felt like a star – everyone came up to me, asked about the design, and asked to touch it.”
Oleksandra says that embroidering shirts has a therapeutic and meditative effect on her: ‘I like sitting and embroidering, thinking about my own life, I calm down and feel better. Old shirts are a previously unknown area, which I am just getting to know, not even close to the depths.”
The woman says that the topic of shirts is fascinating her more and more: ‘Recently, our local collector showed me an old authentic shirt from the village of Verbivtsi with white on white embroidery (meaning white threads on white fabric – Ed.) and coloured embroidery. I hadn’t seen such beauty for a long time, the patterns, colour combinations, design, details – everything was perfect. I was happy not only to see it but also to touch it. At that moment I realized that I had to embroider! It was as if fate had given me the idea. I didn’t even know what an ‘’ustavka‘’ was before (an embroidered insert with a pattern – Ed.), but now I can appreciate its complexity and feel its value.”
Returning to what is native
Oleksandra is convinced that it is extremely important to promote Ukrainian culture.
‘I believe that it is necessary to spread information about culture because it is knowledge that was taken away from us. Something unique to Ukrainians belongs only to us. I didn’t know about old shirts, costumes, or other handicrafts before, not because I wasn’t interested, but because it was forbidden to talk about it. My grandmother had a passion for cross-stitching, but at the same time, I did not inherit anything embroidered by her. Now, when I talk about the Horodenka shirt, locals react: ‘Did we have one of these? Is it ours?’. Someone climbs into the attic and finds fragments of an old shirt. And people don’t know about it not because they don’t want to, but because it was purposely done that way. Can you imagine if we hadn’t had these decades of oppression, harassment, and ridicule for speaking Ukrainian, wearing Ukrainian culture or clothes, and replacing authenticity with sharovar, what level would our society be at now? People were made to think that everything Ukrainian was rural, ridiculous, and worthless. I think that by talking about old clothes, embroidering shirts, buying products made by local craftsmen, we rediscover ourselves, return to our own’
Author — Rostyslava Martyniuk
Editor — Anastasiia Zanuzdanova
Photos sent by Oleksandra Dubovytska
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